My orchard photos

[chickenlittle]

First chestnut crab fruit. 2015 bench graft on g222.

 

[chickenlittle]

Coop 36 on G222. 2016bench graft.

 

[chickenlittle]

Kerr on G222. Was loaded earlier but I removed all the fruit in June.

 

[chickenlittle]

Puget spiceon g222, 2016 Cummins. 2nd year loaded. Cider crab.

 

[Mortenson]

When does Puget Spice drop? Slow or all at once?

 

[Chainsaw]

That is one extra neat orchard with a nice variety of trees. I like the large size weed mats shown on some. Are those weed mats in the six by six range? Our Trees get only one mowing a year and those Larger size weed mats look like a better size than what we are using. And do you spray regularly?

 

[chickenlittle]

Not much spraying. Just occasionally for aphids on young trees and Japanese beetles.

The original trees planted in 2015 got 6x6 weedmats. The b118 and P18 were on 30’ spacing. I added more trees in the rows that haven’t all gotten weedmats yet. I think has slowed their growth.

I’m not sure when the Puget Spice drops. It didn't hold all winter like Golden Hornet can.

 

[Charles Clear]

Great looking trees!

 

[chummer]

Great looking orchard. Is that apple eating hornet like 2” long. My parents have always had those but I have never seen them anywhere else. They eat the whole apple.

 

[chickenlittle]

Great looking orchard. Is that apple eating hornet like 2” long. My parents have always had those but I have never seen them anywhere else. They eat the whole apple.

Yes. Huge hornets. They’ll hollow out the apples so you just have the skin and core hanging on the stem. They also chew bark and nearly girdled a tree a couple years ago.

 

[Apple Junkie]

Damn, that is an impressive orchard chicken. Great pics... now I'm itching to order some trees for next spring! Thanks for posting, a picture is worth a thousand words.

 

[DrDirtNap]

Very nice trees! You’ve got some good ones that’s for sure.


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[H20fwler]

Orchard looks great! Nice varieties.

Does the g222 grow better in your soil, was kind of wondering why the choice with that rootstock.

 

[sandbur]

That looks great! Thanks for posting.


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[chickenlittle]

I would not recommend G222. It suckers bad and growth is relatively weak. I should really stake them. Had I known how quickly B118 would produce, I would have just planted more of that. I figured the larger Geneva rootstocks would be faster to produce.

There is a Geneva summary chart that has changed several times since, adjusting expected size and other details. The biggest one wasn’t available and I ended up getting G222. Now the chart lists G890 as the biggest. I am pleased with my Williams Pride and Winecrisp on G890. Beefier trees than G222 and they started pumping out apples by year 2 or 3.

If I could start over... more B118 and a little block of dwarf G11 or G41 closer to the house that would always be fenced. My orchard is protected by electric fence but I’ll take that down in a few more years.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Great job Chicken!! Good variety of trees.

 

[H20fwler]

I would not recommend G222. It suckers bad and growth is relatively weak. I should really stake them. Had I known how quickly B118 would produce, I would have just planted more of that. I figured the larger Geneva rootstocks would be faster to produce.

There is a Geneva summary chart that has changed several times since, adjusting expected size and other details. The biggest one wasn’t available and I ended up getting G222. Now the chart lists G890 as the biggest. I am pleased with my Williams Pride and Winecrisp on G890. Beefier trees than G222 and they started pumping out apples by year 2 or 3.

If I could start over... more B118 and a little block of dwarf G11 or G41 closer to the house that would always be fenced. My orchard is protected by electric fence but I’ll take that down in a few more years.

I've got a couple on G222 because I couldn't find the varieties I was wanting on bigger stuff at the time a few years ago. It has still grown good for me and I have been able to graft from the original trees onto M111 and that rootstock works way better for me here with my loamy heavy clay.

 

[J B]

Chicken- I’m curious how healthy your leaves look on the honey crisp. I planted a couple 10 years ago on some sort of semi dwarf rootstock. They may have come from Home Depot. They never look healthy. One tree has a few small apples this year. I’m about ready to rip them out. I did plant a b118 honey crisp from Cummins a few years ago in hopes that it was poor rootstock. Your pictures look promising.

How do you like the p18 vs b118? I planted a couple p18 for the first time last year. I have a lot of b118 but they look like some maybe leaners on my clay soil. M111 is a little smaller tree so far but maybe more sturdy in the long run???

 

[silver_yummies]

Chicken- I’m curious how healthy your leaves look on the honey crisp. I planted a couple 10 years ago on some sort of semi dwarf rootstock. They may have come from Home Depot. They never look healthy. One tree has a few small apples this year. I’m about ready to rip them out. I did plant a b118 honey crisp from Cummins a few years ago in hopes that it was poor rootstock. Your pictures look promising.

How do you like the p18 vs b118? I planted a couple p18 for the first time last year. I have a lot of b118 but they look like some maybe leaners on my clay soil. M111 is a little smaller tree so far but maybe more sturdy in the long run???

Feed your honeycrisp trees with a calcium foliar spray. They have a problem in taking up calcium on their own or something like that. I did this to mine and finally produced once I did that.

 

[chickenlittle]

JB, I can't say that I've paid too close attention to the honeycrisp. My recollection of last year or the year before was that it didn't seem that healthy compared to most of my other trees. This year it seemed ok except for getting hit by Japanese beetles. Other guys have a lot more experience with it and the calcium deficiency/iron chlorosis is a common comment.

P18 vs B118. I've had to stake a few trees of each. I think P18 tends to be bigger but I only have a few varieties on both and none of those are the same age. I would say P18 isn't far behind B118 in how quick to fruit. I was expecting it to be much slower. I was real excited when Goldrush on P18 planted in 2015 had a real nice crop in 2018. But it hasn't done much since and a similar Enterprise has only had a few apples over that span. I was hoping those would be pumping out apples...but it is hard to separate fruiting from weather related pollination problems. The only real worry I have about P18 is wooley aphids. I have seen some every year somewhere in my orchard. P18 is not resistant but I'm not sure how big of an issue that might be.